Wednesday

Jul 18, 2018 at 12:01 AMJul 18, 2018 at 10:54 AM

A look at a typical set list from singer-guitarist Dwayne Haggins would reveal that he’s as comfortable covering rockabilly (Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes”) and funk (Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”) as he is with his own material, ranging from the honkytonk of “Song About Nothing” to the balladry in “Thanks to the Rain.” But when he returns to Jasper Hill Café in Holliston on July 25 – playing acoustic guitar and pairing up with Baxter Hall on electric – the lion’s share of the sounds will likely fall under the category of country blues.

“My mom listened to a lot of soul and R&B when I was growing up, so that’s what I listened to,” said the 22-year old Framingham resident. “I’d hear Luther Vandross, I was obsessed with Michael Jackson, and there was a lot of rap mixed in.”

But Haggins wanted to do more than listen, he wanted to learn to play guitar.

“I had Conan O’Brien on in the background one night, and [country singer] Sturgill Simpson was playing,” he said. “At the end of the song I heard Conan saying how great he was and it sounded like he really meant it. So, I went back and listened to Sturgill, and I really liked him. I ended up looking at all his videos and bought his albums, and fell in love with the music he was playing. I hadn’t heard much country before that, then I saw him doing ‘Medicine Springs,’ and the next day I went out and bought a guitar.”

That was when he was 18. Within a couple of years, he was writing his own songs, but he hadn’t yet discovered that he had a great singing voice.

“I would always sing to myself and in the shower,” he said, “but never in front of people. In high school I was in a chorus class, not by my choice. The teacher wanted me to sing lead on one song, but I thought, ‘No way!’ I guess I had some stage fright, and I thought my voice wasn’t good enough to do that.

“But sometime in 2016 I was getting better and more confident on guitar. I ended up doing a video of me playing and singing a medley of Sturgill’s songs. That was the first thing I put on Facebook, and I got so much love from it – everybody was complimenting me – I thought maybe I’m a little bit better than I thought I was.”

Haggins recorded a few songs in a local studio, trying to work up the courage to play live at open mics. He finally stepped up on the stage at Main Street Café in Concord, shortly before turning 21.

“I played ‘Medicine Springs’ and one original,” he recalled. “I was crazy-nervous that day, but once I started playing it felt good. All of the nervousness just went away.”

Haggins eventually found himself on the open mic circuit and soon realized that one of the advantages was meeting other musicians. He fell in with guitarist-singer Brook Meggs, who introduced him to bass player Will Woyda. Haggins started playing with them as well as with mandolinist-guitarist Mickey Roache.

“Then Brook told me about this blues prodigy named Baxter Hall, who sat in with us, then kept playing with us,” said Haggins.

For the Jasper Hill show, where he’ll be joined by Hall, Haggins intends to “do as many songs as I can fit in a night.

“I’ll make a set list before the show, but I’ll stray from it a lot of the time,” he said. “If the night goes the way I was hoping or thinking it would, we’ll go through most of the set list. But that really works more like a reference sheet. I might think of a different song in the middle of a set, and go with that one.”

Haggins is never averse to peppering his shows with cover songs he loves to play (he and Hall do an outstanding version of “Folsom Prison Blues”), but he’s also very happy to show off his own songs. He’s not sure just yet about what will be included in the duo show, but recent gigs with his band have left some clues.

“We recently started to incorporate more originals,” he said. “We also just did some recording when we were in Knoxville, and we’d like to put out an album. We don’t have a date yet but we’re slowly putting a few new originals into the sets.”

Dwayne Haggins and Baxter Hall perform at Jasper Hill Café in Holliston on July 25 at 8 p.m. No admission charge. Info: 774-233-0853.

Upcoming concerts and club dates

July 21:

Americana roots-rock quintet The Dales play at Café 939 in Boston. (8 p.m.)

It’s an evening of modern bluegrass from Punch Brothers at House of Blues in Boston. Madison Cunningham opens. (8 p.m.)

July 26:

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Max Kennedy, who plays folk and jazz with an avant-garde twist, has a release gig for “On That Great Selection Day” at the Lilypad in Cambridge. Jake Sherman opens. (7:30 p.m.)

The eight-piece outfit Lookie Lookie mixes together Cuban, Afro-Caribbean, and salsa sounds at the Regattabar in Cambridge. (7 p.m.)

July 27:

It’s a night of retro rock with Boy George & Culture Club, along with the B-52’s at the Wang Theatre in Boston. (7 p.m.)